| Luís Wittnich Carrisso | |
| Birth Date: | 14 February 1886 |
| Birth Place: | São Julião, Figueira da Foz |
| Death Place: | Moçâmedes Desert, Angola |
| Occupation: | Botanist, professor |
Luís Wittnich Carrisso (14 February 1886 - 14 June 1937) was a Portuguese botanist, professor at the University of Coimbra.
Carrisso was born in Figueira da Foz.[1] He attended the Faculty of Philosophy of University of Coimbra (1904-1910). After graduating he became a student of botanist Julio Augusto Henriques.[1] Carrisso took interest in evolution and heredity and presented his PhD thesis Hereditariedade in 1911. He published scientific work on ecology and plant systematics.[1]
In 1918, he became Professor of Botany at University of Coimbra's Botanical Garden.[1] He was a supporter of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution but was skeptical of the role of natural selection. He embraced mutationism.[1]
He died on 6 June 1937 in the Namib desert (Moçâmedes), in Angola, of cardiac syncope, during his third botanical expedition to that country. A monument was erected at the site in his memory.[2]